Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Decreases Position in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,379 shares of the company’s stock after selling 124 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $667,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in AbbVie in the second quarter valued at $27,000. IFS Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AbbVie during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AbbVie during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AbbVie during the first quarter valued at about $37,000. 70.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total value of $12,403,580.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 446,599 shares in the company, valued at $83,299,645.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 66,500 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.52, for a total transaction of $12,403,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 446,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,299,645.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard A. Gonzalez sold 282,845 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $49,497,875.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 513,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,792,325. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on ABBV shares. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of AbbVie in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays raised their price target on AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on AbbVie from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, William Blair raised AbbVie to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $194.67.

AbbVie Price Performance

Shares of ABBV stock opened at $192.99 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $193.58 and its 200 day moving average is $176.95. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.85 and a 1-year high of $199.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $340.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.27, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.63.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 203.66%. AbbVie’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. AbbVie’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.98%.

About AbbVie

AbbVie Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Humira, an injection for autoimmune and intestinal Behçet's diseases, and pyoderma gangrenosum; Skyrizi to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic disease, and Crohn's disease; Rinvoq to treat rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, atopic dermatitis, axial spondyloarthropathy, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease; Imbruvica for the treatment of adult patients with blood cancers; Epkinly to treat lymphoma; Elahere to treat cancer; and Venclexta/Venclyxto to treat blood cancers.